Saturday, April 26, 2014

“Forgiveness is
unlocking the door to set someone free & realizing that you were the
prisoner” an opening statement he makes at our tete a tete that comes through in Vikas Bahl’s latest film ‘Queen’. Yes,
we’re all curious about the man who has conveyed so many resonant messages
through his film. & Won innumerable awards at this years Film Fare Awards night.What a riotous film, and yet without being preachy, with uproarious funny moments -a film that does not try to talk down to you, but takes you on a euphoric thrilling journey and yet conveys so many important messages. I've loved it but so have the critics. An important film of our times.
The beauty remains in the fact that the film carries you with it, not attempting to teach to improve anyone. Vikas was just sharing his funda of life artlessly, while telling his beguiling story hilariously.

What comes across to me most resonantly is that one just has to take the leap of faith and follow one’s heart. And if you don’t, then life’s greatest calamities, or what we view as calamities are actually that prod that throw us out of comfort zones and make us reconsider our lives and take the plunge into adventure, living, experiencing and being our true selves.
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Wednesday, April 23, 2014

He was in his later seventies and she was somewhat younger. They came hand in hand, no overt pretence but genuine concern and absorbed in each other. He had come to buy her a bracelet, at a trunk show I was hosting for the luxury jewelry brand I endorse.
I was riveted. A wedding anniversary of over fifty years, and so much love and companionship. Mr & Mrs Vasudeva- I met them over coffee through the afternoon-had gone out for a tête-à-tête lunch, a walk down Delhi’s verdant Lodi gardens, and then a ‘little’ token for her.

They chose the bracelet together, chose it with some discussion and loving collaboration. It was a revelation to see that not only can relationships have such longevity but with such mutual respect, love and sense of companionship.

A refreshing
change from the short lived marriages of today wouldn't you say? Where at the first sign of a hiccough or discord you hear 'it's not working', 'I don't think I can take this anymore'.

I see around me so many marriages crumbling apart, that had come together with such élan. Just recently I specifically noticed
Mohammad Azharuddin looking so melancholy and solitary in the audience, while I
compered a show. His marriage to Sangeeta Bijlani had crumbled even though he
had got together with her after divorcing his first wife Naureen.

Some
relationships that were expected to be everlasting did not turn out that way,
and one such

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Film ‘Queen’, is one of the more sparkling, endearing Bollywood films
I’ve seen of late, and Actor Kangana Ranaut as the gullible or provincial hick from
Delhi, unexposed and big eyed about all things ‘cool’, trendy and sexy is
beguiling. Especially when the Italian hunk in the film asks her to prove that
Indians kiss better than Italians. Dumped at the alter by her fiancée Kangana
as the film’s ‘Rani’ is on her ‘honeymoon’ alone to find herself
adventure.

The film while delightful, brings to the fore questions about the
new age single women, the importance of exploring oneself, the stifling nature
of some intrusive Indian relationships. Ranaut’s self-discovery and her freedom
prove that it is no longer the desperate need for a woman to be hitched to find
happiness. Quite the opposite. She should not even need the institution of
marriage to fulfil her need for physical connect and sex?

Sex and the single woman has been a preoccupying thought with ‘new
age’ India. West of the archaic Suez Canal there seemed once to be a cloud of
horrific implications over a girl letting go of her virginity before marriage.
Somehow as soon as you go east the virginity issue becomes a big deal. In India
too there still seem to be steeped in the loss of virginity phobia.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

At a crowded pre-holi party last evening, I was speaking
with a smiling , unrealistically obliging and ingratiating socialite. - I wondered
what made her come across so artificially polite and phoney. It was the dearth of
something real, genuine, from the heart. That special something which
differentiates the tangible from the sham is that warmth reflecting within the
light inside the eyes. Suddenly then Diana Hayden breezed in. And when I say breezed I mean breezed in. Like a relief factor from the painfully put on fare Bombay sometimes offer's especially in the air-kissing lot. To put you upto speed, Diana won Femina Miss India in
1997, crowned Miss World 1997. I thought to myself, ‘this is the real thing’.
Shes always from the heart –what –you-see–is-what–you–get. Nothing changes
her, not the great highs nor the sometime lows. And anyway, which of us doesn't go through the lows?

So what actually kept Diana differently real and fun to hang out with? I mean she's belonged to the glamour industry. Diana told me her tale over one of our long coffee sessions. Would you believe it, I didn't know she was from Hydrabad. The daughter of a plumber, her mother is a teacher.
An ordinary home, where her parents split up when she was merely thirteen. She had to leave school to fend for herself to take up a job
and work really hard "I worked as a receptionist, a telephone
operator, I held at least fifteen jobs. Life was very basic. Our foundation of
education was good so that while I might have been an eighth drop out I always
got books as Christmas presents, read a lot and I turned into a curious romantic
person.”

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ABOUT NISHA JAMVWAL

Nisha is a Columnist & Luxury Brand Consultant who consults with ZOYA by TATA, and other luxury brands . She has conslulted with Diago, Carlsberg, Swarovski, and done branding events for Natures Basket, Lancome & other International brands.

Columnist & Writer - Nisha is a columnist with newspapers & magazines & on the advisory board of Good Homes. English Literature & Art education translated into two books on Traditional Indian Craft & preserving ancient traditions of Craft.